


Stutter

by GalacticallyNonbinary



Category: Sanders Sides, Thomas Sanders
Genre: Angst, Gen, Patton's stutter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-10
Updated: 2017-12-10
Packaged: 2019-02-13 06:14:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12977826
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GalacticallyNonbinary/pseuds/GalacticallyNonbinary
Summary: Sometimes, Patton just can't seem to talk





	Stutter

**Author's Note:**

> people on tumblr keep pointing out his stutter, so y'all know I had to do this. me??? projecting????? nEver!!!!!!!

Patton sat up at midnight, murmuring to himself. He read aloud from books, said random strings of nonsense words that came to mind, all as fast as he could. Here, in the quiet stillness of night, everything was fine. But he knew that no matter how hard he tried, it wouldn't change what happened during the day.

~~So why did he still do it every night?~~

The next morning on the bus, he was talking to his friend Virgil.

"I heard this joke last night! So, why do flamingos stand on one leg?" Virgil shrugged, smirking slightly at his friend's bubbly smile. "Because if they put the other leg up, they'd fall down!" Patton delved into a fit of giggles, and Virgil chuckled, more at Patton's goofiness than the joke itself.

"You should totally tell that one to Logan," he commented, and Patton grinned, imagining the nerdy boy's reaction.

When they arrived at school, Logan and Roman were, as always, engaged in a friendly, nonsensical argument.

"...and anyway, if a ghost was in your house and wanted to hurt you, it would have done so already."

"You don't know that! Maybe he's waiting for the right time!" Logan rolled his eyes at Roman's dramatic gestures.

"Roman, are you scared of this hypothetical ghost in your home?"

"I'm not scared! I just wanted to know what the best way to fight a ghost would be!" Before Logan could respond, Patton and Virgil walked over to them, grins on both of their faces. Virgil nudged Patton with his elbow.

"C'mon, tell them." Patton giggled, and cleared his throat.

Around more people, his heart rate was speeding up. That usually happened, he did his best to ignore it.

"W-why do flamingos sleep with one leg up?" He was thankful when the others didn't seem to notice his slight stutter as he began his sentence. Silently, he cursed his brain and his tongue for not working in sync. Logan was signing and rolling his eyes while Virgil and Roman chuckled, Roman waiting excitedly for the punchline that would drive Logan over the edge.

Patton opened his mouth, but the words didn't come out. Quickly, he forced a laugh, covering his misstep. All the pressure on him, all the attention on him, he had to get it right. Slowly, he shaped his mouth around the words, concentrating on each syllable.

"Cause if they- uh- cause if both legs- uh-" the words refused to come to his brain. It was clear the others had already gotten the punchline of the joke, but they waited for him to finish. "They'd fall- I mean-" Damn his stutter. He breathed. Slowly, he spoke. "Cause if they- if- if they slept with both legs up, they'd- they'd fall down." Roman smiled, laughing halfheartedly for a moment. Logan sighed, his annoyance at the joke already spent while Patton had been choking out the punchline.

_If he could've said it faster, it would've been funnier._

He hated that feeling. It took so long to come down from it. His heart didn't slow down until he was on his way to his locker. His palms were still clammy far into first period. And that self-hatred in his stomach stuck around for the rest of the day.

He remembered how Logan had made a comment a month or so ago.

_"Patton has an occasional stutter..."_

Logan wasn't pointing it out to be mean, obviously. Simply pointing out a fact. It had made sense in context, he wouldn't mention it out of the blue. But although the context of the situation was long forgotten, the comment stuck, etched into Patton's brain.

He still stayed up at night, practicing. He knew it wouldn't change a thing, but it gave him slight peace of mind, just enough to be able to sleep. But whenever that feeling washed over him, he'd know that all his practice was for nothing, and he'd keep that stupid, awful stutter.

It ruined everything.

_He_ ruined everything.


End file.
